A young blood has been in- fused in the board of directors of Northwestern University when Dr. Richard Nicolas took over as chairman of the board following his election after Retired Col. Wilfred Nicolas relinquished his position to the younger generation. Col. Nicolas was chosen chair- man emeritus. The younger Nicolas, son of the late NWU president Col. Ben Nicolas, who is a practicing physician/surgeon finished his Bachelor of Science in Zoology at the University of the Philippines-Diliman in 1986 and pursued his Doctor in Medicine degree at UP-College of Medicine where he graduated in 1991. After passing his medical board examination, he took his residency at the UP-PGH and went into several training programs and courses in general surgery, Medtronics freestyle valve implantation, Thoracic and Cardiovascular surgery, ATG suture less connector, and Laparoscopic surgery. He also took Clinical Skills Assessment in Philadelphia, USA in 2000 after which he pursued his Clinical Fellowship in Advanced Cardiac Surgery (Congenital Cardiac Surgery) Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN, USA. Nicolas also had training at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London where he took his Observational Fellowship in Heart Valve Bank. He is a fellow of the Philippine Association of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Inc. He also passed several licensure examinations some of which are those administered by the Philippine Board of Surgery and Philippine Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He is currently a practicing doctor at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang and has affiliations with the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center Manila, St. Luke’s Medical Center and

Atty. Ferdinand S. Nicolas newly-installed President of Northwestern University

Lawyer Ferdinand Nicolas, newly-installed president of Northwestern University, vowed to continue the legacy of the institution ’ s founders focusing on the good character of faculty members and their passion for excellence. “ It is the passion for instruction I really would like Northwestern to be known,” Nicolas said. In an interview with student editors, Nicolas, who took over the helm of the presidency last June 20 vice Liza Nicolas whose three-year term has ended, said that effective learning comes from the character of the faculty members and their ability to connect with the students. Nicolas said that character is important to inspire the students to achieve excellence adding that it would be nice if instructors take their job passionately to inspire the students to become the best that they can be. “I wanted to emphasize with the faculty members the reason for being here and the reason Northwestern University exists. It is for the students. It is to help the students attain their dreams and goals, to give them the opportunities that a good education brings,” Nicolas added. He believes that faculty members could not bring out the best in the students if the former only rely on the content and knowledge that they are delivering to the students. And this comes from character and a connection with the students. He said that “no matter how beautiful your system is, if the people are not there to inspire, to be the implementers of change, it will not happen.” “It’s the people that will affect the change. And that only comes on an individual basis where people can actually inspire others to better standards,” he said. “We don’t have to make that connection every time, if we can connect to at least one of them or a couple of them or a group of them each time that there’s a class, then we’ll be able to reach out to the students and really see that we are involved in their development. And that’s really more than accreditation or ISO certification,” Nicolas said. Nicolas said he will focus on the qualification development of the faculty members with good character as the main feature plus patience and passion to teach effectively. “It’s not just lectures and reading from the textbooks, and just spewing information. It sometimes has to force the students to hit their book, to go online, to get the knowledge they need,” he said. As one who’s taking an online course, the President would like to see the faculty members to also take online courses saying that the wealth of knowledge online is overwhelming. He suggested two websites: the edx.org hosted by Harvard and coursera.org which are both offered for free. “University education is about the ability to learn new things not only within the four walls of this institution but also on the outside world,” he said. To further pursue his objective to instill passion in teaching, Nicolas said he is pushing for the continuation of the mentorship program for faculty members. The program he said was earlier instituted by the then Center for English Studies that mainly focused on Communication and English instructors of the College of Arts and Sciences. He said he formed a committee to be headed by Mr. Felix Josue, an English Studies consultant, with some administrators to come up with a “step by step” process for the mentorship program which can be replicated in all the colleges. “Effective teaching is not just having facility in the English language, it is connecting to the students,” Nicolas said. Nicolas said one way to know if faculty members are connecting with students is the institution of online evaluation of instructors. With this system, the administration and the deans could get feed- backs from the students with focus on the comments rather than the numerical evaluation, he said. “Because if you feel strongly about something you would write about it and those are the most important,” he said.

News Article from The Review Issue: June - October 2014 Vol. 82 No. 1

Stock Holders Meeting 2015

NOTICE OF THE REGULAR STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING OF

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, INC.

To All Stockholders of Northwestern University, Inc.:

Greetings!

Please be informed that the Board of Directors has set the Regular Stockholders’ Meeting of Northwestern University, Inc. on May 28, 2015, 1:30 PM at the Conference Hall of the International House at the NWU Campus.

The items on the agenda for the meeting are as follows:

Chairman’s Report

President’s Report

Approval / Ratification of placing or investing corporate funds in a Mutual Fund

Election of Board of Directors

Other Matters

For those attending through proxies, kindly submit proxy certificates at the least three (3) days prior to the scheduled meeting to the Legal Office of Northwestern University or email them at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.

Ma. Theressa L. Carbonell, faculty member of the VJSSGS and the head of the Early Childhood Education department was chosen to present her research, Play Activities for Teaching Science at the Kindergarten, at the National Research Forum in Baguio City.

“I was very overwhelmed and a little bit nervous but am still thankful for this opportunity, I can say that I am lucky and I will treasure this for all my life. This will serve as my inspiration especially in teaching. It is also a challenge for me to undertake more researches I anticipate more opportunities like this not only for me but even for my colleagues in the university”, Carbonell said.

Dr. Elsie C. Pilar, dean of Vedasto J. Samonte School of Graduate Studies, also attended the research forum.

National Research Forum was sponsored by the Research Education Development Training Institute (REDTI) held at Supreme Hotel Baguio City last October 19-20, 2011.

University Memorializes Founders Vision (News Article from The Review)

As the University observed its 80th Foundation Anniversary, it stood tall and proud as the stakeholders declared their commitment to the institution's philosophy and vision. In a ceremony that memorialized the vision of the founders, the University represented by President Liza Nicolas, launched a recommitment of the institution's mission and goals through a time capsule that will serve as a witness to the test of resilience and faith.

Masscom program preapred him well for the work, he says

A Mass Communication graduate of the University has joined GMA 7 Kapuso Network as reporter. Al Hadji Rieta joined the Kapuso Network in June this year after a one-year stint with the regional ABS-CBN in Laoag as reporter and anchorman.

"It is an honor and privilege to be working with topnotch broadcast journalists. The names of these broadcast journalists always cropped up in our class discussion because our teacher uses their works/programs as case studies. We also analyzed and critiqued every aspect of the news and current affairs programs of the network including the soap segments and we came to know the personalities from a distance," Rieta said. He said he had to follow the current affairs programs of the network even late in the evening or monitor these online to update himself in the discussion.